Joseph Adani (L), current President of ANSAM (2018-20) and Seth Shatsang (R), outgoing President of ANSAM are seen here in Tahamzam (Senapati), Manipur State, in March, 2018. (Morung Photo)
Morung Express Feature
Tahamzam | March 19
The All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur (ANSAM) is in a meeting a day before the election to its tenure 2018-2020 on March 14, 2018. Seniors speak, as do intermediaries and juniors—they recall the contributions of student leaders that made ANSAM what it is was and is today.
Faced with the dire straits in which Naga people living in Manipur have found themselves in, the ANSAM has been at the forefront of programs implemented by the Naga civil society in Manipur since its inception in 1970. Each leader of ANSAM, through the years, has brought unique leadership styles, recreating the Association with every tenure.
President of the ANSAM from 2013 to 2018, and its General Secretary from 2010-2013, Seth Shatsang reconstructed the way young Naga people became dynamic inheritors of Naga politics from the grassroots up; he injected the students’ movement with a rib-tickling dynamism and inter-generational dialogue that has slowly eroded from students’ politics of the region.
Who is Seth Shatsang?
Born in Marem Village,Ukhrul, Seth studied in Class 5 three years in a row as his parents could not afford to support further education—nine siblings meant much pressure on his cultivator parents. Persistence is, however, Seth’s middle name and he pushed on. By Class 8, he was already a leader. By the time he was in college, which he changed thrice going from a BSc at Patkai Christian College (Dimapur) to Geology at Fergusson College (Pune) finally graduating in Journalism from Administrative Management College (Bangalore) in 2005, he was well positioned to lead young people.
Seth was encouraged to join larger students’ platforms by ANSAM seniors who took note of his grassroots activism. In 2010, he was elected as ANSAM’s General Secretary. In 2013, Seth was elected its President, followed by a re-election to the position in 2015.
Closely working with senior leaders has been a hallmark of his leadership, alongside his quality to tell a story with side splitting anecdotes. ANSAM press statements reflected a timeless maturity that is a result of inter-generational dialogues, as well as those across gender and community. All sections of society—civil society organisations, state politicians, bureaucrats, political organisations, young, old – were willing to work with Seth.
Armchairs were not the place to enjoy a cup of tea at. As a leader, Seth drove (often in rash overtures) through interior areas, including several visits to Myanmar to address issues facing Naga people living in areas of no governance and over militarisation. He brought unconnected students’ movements into the Naga conversation, travelling through all Naga areas, expanding the base of voices. His team managed to set up an ANSAM memorial park in Chandel in 2016, establishing June 19 as the ANSAM Remembrance Day to honour martyrs of the students’ movement—leaders who died in their line of duty towards the people. His team was able to send 62 students to study in Rajasthan through scholarships facilitated by the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs. He led several movements for the rights of peoples in Manipur’s hills. Under his leadership, the ANSAM managed to construct a Secretariat Complex that will now be its permanent bureau as well as space for collective sharing and action.
Resistance movement
It is impossible to cull out a longer list of contributions from Seth. He breaks into a cackle when asked about his biggest contribution to the students’ movement in Manipur. “Drawing from the wisdom of our seniors can be counted as an achievement,” he acknowledges. But the penchant for drama in Seth makes him shift gear. “My greatest achievement has been the realization of my failures.”
He is referring to the responsibility of a students’ body to “educate the young masses,” which, according to him, the ANSAM was unable to do during his tenure. Joyson Mazamo, a member of the Naga Peoples’ Movement for Human Rights, is listening to the conversation and has a different analysis. “Students’ rights bodies become a workforce of the Naga civil society in Manipur given the complex political situation we are faced with,” he explains once Seth is out of earshot. “ANSAM is oriented as a students’ resistance movement as we are by-products of our situation and its work had to be remodelled to respond to the times. Seth did that with great effectiveness.”
Besides, ANSAM did educate the masses and set precedents for the political leadership that had become almost unimaginable in Manipur. Seth set up a method of working with not just young Meitei people of the Imphal valley but also forged solidarity with the other hills-based communities of Manipur State that could not meet eye-to-eye.
In 2016, ANSAM signed an instrumental pact of solidarity with the valley-based Democratic Students’ Alliance of Manipur (DESAM) to “address the historically rooted injustices and search for peaceful co-existence firmly founded on a vision for just peace.” Even this came under criticism.
“Arre, if we don’t teach solidarity to students, who will? We cannot fight with all our neighbours on all fronts; it is important to establish and show solidarity to neighbours of the Naga peoples, so we can begin to understand each other,” maintains Seth, happy to move on from the leadership position to focus on his personal life.
New leadership
On March 14, 2018, ANSAM elected Joseph Adani, former President of the Mao Students’ Union, as its President. He is partnered by AC Thotso as General Secretary. Both have worked with Seth and are well capable of taking the organisation forward, in their own ways as well as drawing from the experience of seniors.
“I want to travel the hill areas and focus on the education gaps to be filled,” says Joseph, who holds a Master’s degree in Philosophy from the North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong. Much like a philosopher, Joseph speaks little and does more. As another tenure sets in, hopes remain high that the ANSAM will be able to do more capacity building than firefighting. But this, only politics of the land will determine. There is little to fear though, with robust seniors by ANSAM’s side to guide it into the future.
